Interviewtimes 
Cyclone Yaas is likely to make landfall near Dhamra port between Basudevpur in Bhadrak district and Bahanaga in Balasore district on Wednesday, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Jena. The landfall process will begin at 4 am of Wednesday and continue for four hours till 8 am and all 77 blocks have been kept under high-impact zone category. Wind speed during the landfall will be around 140-155 kmph, gusting to 180 kmph. Over three lakh people have been evacuated from the low-lying and vulnerable areas in Odisha, as the countdown for Wednesday’s landfall of the very severe cyclonic storm “Yaas” began.
The process of moving people to safer places was completed by Tuesday night. The Doppler radar at Paradip has meanwhile located the “eye” of the severe cyclonic storm Yaas, sources said. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held a meeting to take stock of the cyclone situation in the state which has already started impacting lives across the coastal districts as heavy rain pounced with blowing of wind at a speed of about 60 kmph.
On the rescue, relief and restoration preparedness, the SRC said 52 teams of NDRF, 60 teams of ODRAF, 206 Fire Service teams and 86 wood cutting teams of forest department have already been deployed in 10 coastal and adjoining districts. Keeping in view the tidal surge warning of 2 meter to 4.5 meters during the landfall time, which will continue for about four hours, Jena said evacuation process is going on in full swing.
